About Us

About The WWAST: Overview

The Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team™ (WWAST) is a 501(c)(3) public charity whose mission is to inspire and educate others while enhancing the health and welfare of Wounded Warrior Amputees. The WWAST is comprised of competitive, athletic veterans who have lost limbs while serving their country in the military/war. The team includes individuals with a variety of amputations. Some are still in the service; others are attending college thanks to the Post-9/11 GI Bill while others have moved on to new careers. We now travel the country playing able-bodied teams in competitive and exhibition softball games, bringing our special brand of softball, courage and inspiration. MLB Network did a recent piece on our organization.

OUR PRIORITIES

WWAST athletes are examples of amputees who continue to push the limits of modern prosthetics. Of course, our dream would be the return of our soldiers from harm’s way without the loss of life or limb. Until such a time, our goal is to support and honor our veterans’ sacrifices, and to show others that life without a limb is limitless.

In addition to raising funds for our softball program costs, we host an annual Kids Camp where we bring in 20 children (between 8-12 years old) with amputations for a week-long camp where our team members serve as coaches and mentors. The WWAST pays all expenses for the 20 children and one guardian. Our Kids Camp for 2018 will be held in Manchester, NH on June 10-17. The video below will show the amazing power of putting Wounded Warrior Amputees on a field with children who are also amputees:

This year we added an Alumni Kids Camp that reunited WWAST Players with children who attended one of our previous annual Kids Camps.This event was held at Ballparks of America in Branson, Missouri and it was a huge success!We are planning on making this an annual event on our schedule.Here is a video from the camp:

The organization is also active in raising funds that have been donated to research for Heterotopic Ossification (HO). HO is excess bone growth in soft tissues that occurs in the residual limbs of combat amputees. This malady has affected many of our players and appears in 65% of amputations resulting from a blast injury. The link below provides more information on Heterotopic ossification:

Because many of our players have spent time at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, we also raised funds to provide equipment that may not be in the hospital budget. In the past, we donated new equipment to update the physical therapy room. We plan on expanding these donations to other military Medical Centers.

OTHER INFO

Our website, http://www.thewwast.org/ provides a lot of information about the WWAST. The WWAST is also on Social Media where our fans can follow us. Supporters can “Like” us on Facebook and “Follow” us on Twitter @WWAmpSoftball. The WWAST is not affiliated with other charities having the words “Wounded Warrior” in their name (e.g. Wounded Warrior Project, etc.). Since our inception over 85% of our donations have supported programs helping Wounded Warrior Amputees, amputee children, and medical research.